Improvement in artificial crowns for teeth



J. B. BEERS. Artificial Crowns for Teeth.

Patented Nov. 4, 1873.

' FICE.

JOHN B. tunes, on slut FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN ARTIFICIAL CROWNS FOR 'I'EETH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 144,182, dated November 4, 1873; a-pplicationfiled September 27, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN B. Bnnns, of San Francisco city and county, State of Califorma, have mvented Improvements in Restoring Broken or Decayed Teeth; and I do hereby declare the following description and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use my said invention or improvement without further invention or experiment.

The usual methods employed by the dental profession for restoring decayed or broken teeth to their original size and shape is to build upon the base or exposed portion of the old teeth a new one, by condensing gold with a hammer until it has assumed the desired size and form. This process of restoring teeth is at once costly, diificult, and tedious, and the continued hammering upon the jaw necessary to build up the tooth frequently causes periosteal inflammation. Besides this process, pivot-teeth are sometimes employed, but they are very unsatisfactory.

The object of my invention is to provide a metal cap or crown socket, of the desired size and form, which can be slipped on over the projecting portion of the old tooth, and which can be secured firmly to it, so as to serve all the purposes of mastication the same as an original tooth, while at the same time effectually preventing any further decay.

In order to explain my invention so. that others will understand the same, reference is had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 shows the cap applied upon a molar tooth. Fig. 2 shows the cap applied upon an incisor tooth. Fig. 3 shows the cap detached from. the incisor tooth. Fig. 4. shows the cap detached from a molar tooth. Fig. 5 shows the cap and screw ready to be applied to one of a set of teeth.

' A represents a cup-shaped socket or hollow shell, which I make out of gold, the exterior of which is in the form of a human tooth, the closed end being made similar to the crown or point of the tooth for which it is to be substituted. To apply this shell or crown I first clean away the decayed portions of the old with the opposing tooth has been correctly ob-' tained, I secure in the old tooth a gold screw, 0, or its equivalent, so that its head will project above the tooth, as represented at f. I then fill the crown or shell A with oxychloride of zinc or other suitable cement, and immediately replace it upon the projecting portion of the old tooth, where it will soon become firmly fixed by the hardening of the cement.

A small quantity of enamel can be first fused into the shell and the cement filled in afterward, so that when the gold crown or weal ing-edge of the gold shell wears through a hard and permanent surface will still be preserved.

I thus provide an exceedingly useful improvement in dentistry by saving the time, annoyance, and danger attending the buildingup process. At the same time I provide a tooth equally reliable for all purposes of mas tication as the original tooth.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Iatcut, is-

I 1. The hollow metal crown or shell. A, for the purpose above described.

2. The hollow metal crown or shell A, when filled with a porcelain enamel or other sub stance, substantially as and for the purpose above described.

3. A shell or hollow crown secured upon and around the projecting portion or neck of a tooth by means of the screw 0 and a suitable cement, substantially as above described.

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand and seal.

JOHN B. BEER-S. [L. s.]

itnesses JOHN L. BOONE, O. M. Rrcrmn-nsox. 

